Jennie's Boy

A Newfoundland Childhood

De: Wayne Johnston

Narrado por: Wayne Johnston

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE CBC
WINNER OF THE 2023 LEACOCK MEDAL FOR HUMOUR
SHORTLISTED FOR CANADA READS 2025

Consummate storyteller and bestselling novelist Wayne Johnston reaches back into his past to bring us a sad, tender and at times extremely funny memoir of his Newfoundland boyhood.

For six months between 1966 and 1967, Wayne Johnston and his family lived in a wreck of a house across from his grandparents in Goulds, Newfoundland. At seven, Wayne was sickly and skinny, unable to keep food down, plagued with insomnia and a relentless cough that no doctor could diagnose, though they had already removed his tonsils, adenoids and appendix. To the neigh­bours, he was known as “Jennie’s boy,” a back­handed salute to his tiny, ferocious mother, who felt judged for Wayne’s condition at the same time as worried he might never grow up.

Unable to go to school, Wayne spent his days with his witty, religious, deeply eccentric mater­nal grandmother, Lucy. During these six months of Wayne’s childhood, he and Lucy faced two life-or-death crises, and only one of them lived to tell the tale.

Jennie’s Boy is Wayne’s tribute to a family and a community that were simultaneously fiercely protective of him and fed up with having to make allowances for him. His boyhood was full of pain, yes, but also tenderness and Newfoundland wit. By that wit, and through love—often expressed in the most unloving ways—Wayne survived.

©2023 Wayne Johnston (P)2023 Knopf Canada

Reseñas de la Crítica

WINNER OF THE 2023 LEACOCK MEDAL FOR HUMOUR
NAMED A BEST CANADIAN NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE CBC
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR CANADA READS 2025

"Stunning. . . . A compressed, restrained account of a life lived on the edge, not only in poverty, but at the cusp of mortality. . . . Never overblown or sentimental, Jennie’s Boy is as vivid as one’s own memories, a glimpse into a past of pain and wonder, of loss and joy.” —Toronto Star

"Johnston recounts his childhood with affection and humor. . . . A tender memoir." —Kirkus Reviews

Unique insight into Newfoundland

This story helped me to gain insight into Newfoundland life around that time period. The weaving of the story and the characters made for an interesting listen.